LUCKNOW: As the news of Labour Party’s Keir Starmer ending Conservatives’ 14 years of governance in the UK flashed on TV, UP’s Kanpur and Gorakhpur burst with joy with Labour MP Navendu Mishra’s friends and relatives celebrating the historic mandate by distributing sweets and bursting crackers.

Mishra, 34, returning to House of Commons for a second term from Stockport, was born in Kanpur in 1989. His mother’s paternal home is in Gorakhpur. His childhood was humble, recalled his maternal uncle Nilendar Pandey, a social worker and businessman in Lucknow.

“He played cricket and flew kites in the narrow alleys of Kanpur and Gorakhpur with friends and siblings, including my two sons and daughter. The Mishra family migrated to the UK with his parents when he was just four years old,” Pandey said.

Mishra’s father was a marketing manager for Indian Petrochemicals Corporation Limited and relocated to the UK after assuming a position in a British company.

“We share a strong bond, and Mishra has not forgotten his roots. He loves visiting India once every year or two and always makes a point to meet his relatives from Gorakhpur and Kanpur. He enjoys typical home-cooked vegetarian dishes from eastern Uttar Pradesh,” Pandey added.

Pandey said he has invited his nephew to visit India soon, with plans for a grand welcome already in place.

During a recent visit to India, Mishra led a delegation to meet Gujarat CM Bhupendra Patel and also had a meeting with external affairs minister (EAM) S Jaishankar in New Delhi.

The British MP, who now resides in Brinnington, received his education at Clifton College in Bristol before attending Hull and Keele universities.